Mobile terminal

ABSTRACT

A mobile terminal is provided. The mobile terminal includes a housing having at least one manipulation part, a signal display unit located in the housing, the signal display unit being configured to selectively display one of at least two inputable signal sets, the selectively displayed inputable signal set being visible through the at least one manipulation part, and an input unit located in the housing, the input unit being configured to receive at least one signal corresponding to the selectively displayed inputable signal set.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. application Ser.No. 11/944,351, filed Nov. 21, 2007, which claims priority to KoreanPatent Application No. 10-2007-0056296, filed Jun. 8, 2007, which areherein incorporated by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to mobile terminals, and moreparticularly to a mobile terminal having a selection input unit thatselectively displays one of at least two inputable signal sets forinputting various types of signals or commands according to usermanipulation.

2. Description of Related Art

In general, a mobile terminal is a portable electronic device thatimplements a wireless communication function while having a size andweight that a user may easily carry around. In order to perform thewireless communication function, a certain signal or command is to beinputted to the terminal. Generally, the mobile terminal may have otherfunctions such as video or image display, in addition to the wirelesscommunication function.

Because there are many types of signals inputted by the user dependingon the various functions of the mobile terminal, many different types ofsignals are printed on a portion of the mobile terminal, such as inputdevices, for expressing the inputted signals. As such, it makes itdifficult for the user to recognize the various signals provided on theinput devices.

In an effort to solve the problem, the portion where signals are printedmay be enlarged. This creates its own problems in that the overall sizeof the mobile terminal is increased, which is in direct conflict with auser's desire to have a smaller, more portable terminal.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, in order to address the above matters the various featuresdescribed herein have been conceived. One aspect of the exemplaryembodiments is to allow a user to easily recognize signals inputtedaccording to user manipulation.

According to principles of this invention, a mobile terminal inprovided. The mobile terminal includes a housing having at least onemanipulation part, a signal display unit located in the housing, thesignal display unit being configured to selectively display one of atleast two inputable signal sets, the selectively displayed inputablesignal set being visible through the at least one manipulation part, andan input unit located in the housing, the input unit being configured toreceive at least one signal corresponding to the selectively displayedinputable signal set.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a surface of themanipulation part that faces the signal display unit may besubstantially smooth.

According to another aspect of present invention, the at least onemanipulation part may be formed of a material that allows light to betransmitted therethrough to display the selectively displayed inputablesignal set.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, each of theat least two inputable signal sets may include one of one or morenumbers, one or more symbols, one or more images, one or more charactersrepresentative of a language, one or more menus, or any combinationsthereof.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the mobileterminal may include a light source located in the housing to generatelight, and a light guiding part to guide the generated light towards themanipulation part. The light guiding part may be located between theinput unit and the signal display unit.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, the lightguiding part may be a film located at a lower side of the manipulationpart, and the film may include a diffusion pattern located at a positioncorresponding to the manipulation part.

According to a different aspect of the present invention, the mobileterminal includes a light source configured to generate light, and theat least one manipulation part may include a diffusion pattern locatedat a surface of the at least one manipulation part adjacent the lightsource.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the input unit mayinclude one of a touch screen disposed at an upper side of the signaldisplay unit and a dome switch disposed at a lower side of the signaldisplay unit.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, the housingmay include a plurality of key holes, the at least one manipulation partmay include a plurality of manipulation keys, and each of the pluralityof manipulation keys may be disposed in a corresponding key hole of theplurality of key holes such that each of the plurality of manipulationkeys can be manipulated.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, the input unitmay include a plurality of dome switches, and each dome switch isassociated with a corresponding manipulation key of the plurality ofmanipulation keys.

According to a different aspect of the present invention, themanipulation part may be made of a ductile material.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, the input unitmay include a plurality of dome switches located at a lower side of thesignal display unit, and the at least one manipulation part may includea single pad having a size corresponding to the area where the pluralityof dome switches are located.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, the inputunit may include a touch screen located at an upper side of the signaldisplay unit, and at least one dome switch located at a lower side ofthe signal display unit. When one of the touch screen and the domeswitch is activated, the other is deactivated.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the mobileterminal may include a signal set determining unit electricallyconnected with the signal display unit. The signal set determining unitselects one of the at least two inputable signal sets to be displayed bythe signal display unit.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, the mobileterminal includes a signal set input unit located at the housing. Thesignal set input unit may be electrically connected with the signal setdetermining unit to generate a signal for selecting one of the at leasttwo inputable signal sets to be displayed by the signal display unit.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the housingmay include a first body slidably supported by the second body, thefirst body may include a display, and the second body may include the atleast one manipulation part.

According to still another aspect, the housing may include a firstcover, a second cover, and the at least one manipulation part located inthe front cover.

The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of thepresent invention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of the present invention when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a mobile terminal according to afirst exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a partial section view taken along line II-II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a partial section view of a modification of the mobileterminal according to the first exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 shows a partial section view of a portion of a mobile terminalaccording to a second exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 5 shows a partial section view of a modification of the mobileterminal according to the second exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 shows a partial section view of a portion of a mobile terminalaccording to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of a mobile terminal according to afourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows a partial section view taken along line VIII-VIII in FIG.7;

FIG. 9 shows a partial section view of a modification of the mobileterminal according to the fourth exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 shows a partial section view of a another modification of themobile terminal according to the fourth exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 11 shows a perspective view of the mobile terminal in FIG. 7 wherea signal is inputted by using the mobile terminal in FIG. 7; and

FIG. 12 shows a perspective view of the mobile terminal in FIG. 7 wherea figure (diagram) is inputted through a manipulation region of themobile terminal in FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The mobile terminal according to exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. Wherever possible, the same or similar reference numerals aregiven to the same or similar elements as those in the former embodimentand subsequent description will not be repeated if not necessary.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mobile terminal according to a firstexemplary embodiment of the present invention. In this exemplaryembodiment, the mobile terminal includes a wireless communication module(not shown) to perform a wireless communication function. The mobileterminal is presented as an example of a portable electronic device, andwithout being limited thereto, the mobile terminal can be any one of aPDA, a portable game player, a portable music player, and a portablecalculator, or any other portable electronic devices in which signalsare to be inputted by a user.

As seen in FIG. 1, a housing 10 forms a body of the mobile terminal. Thehousing 10 may include a first or upper body 11 and a second or lowerbody 16 that is slidably connected to the upper body 11. A display 12, areceiver 13, and a camera 14 may be located on an upper portion of theupper body 11. At least one manipulation part 20 for receiving a signalor a command according to user manipulation and a microphone 15 may belocated on a lower portion of the lower body 16. A battery 17 and a sidekey 18 may be mounted at the lower body 16, and a second camera (notshown) having a different image capturing direction as that of thecamera 14 may also be located at the lower body 16. The construction ofthe manipulation part 20 will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

As seen in FIG. 2, the manipulation part 20 includes one or moremanipulation keys 21 respectively disposed in key holes 16 a of thelower body 16. At least one end portion of the key 21 is formed as aflange part 22 extending to be larger than upper portion thereof. Theflange part 22 is held by a stopping part 16 b formed nearing a steppedrelationship near the key hole 16 a. The stopping part 16 b along withthe flange part 22 assist in preventing the manipulation key 21 frombeing released from the lower body 16. A lower surface of themanipulation key 21 may be formed to substantially smooth. Themanipulation part 20 may be transparent to allow light transmissiontherethrough, and may be made from a plastic or other suitable material.

As also seen in FIG. 2, a signal display unit 30 and an input unit 40are located at a lower side of the manipulation part 20. The signaldisplay unit 30 may display one of several different input signal setsas well as display image and video or the like. For this purpose, thesignal display unit 30 may be an LCD or an OLED and may be supported bya circuitry supporting substrate 55. The different signal sets may be acombination of one or more numbers, one or more symbols, one or moreimages, ore or more characters representative of at least one language(e.g., a combination of characters in an alphabet). Also, the signalsets may include various menus. Finally, the different signal sets mayinclude combinations of any of the foregoing.

As seen in FIG. 2, the input unit 40 may be disposed at an upper side ofthe signal display unit 30 to correspond to the manipulation part 20.The input unit 40 receives a signal according to a touching operation ofthe manipulation part 20. For example, the input unit 40 can be a touchscreen. The touch screen may be any of an electrostatic capacity typetouch screen and a pressure-sensitive type touch screen, and is formedto be transparent to allow light to be transmitted therethrough.

With such a construction, the signal display unit 30 displays a signalset determined according to a program or selected according to a commandinputted by the user. The displayed signal set is visible through theinput unit 40 and the manipulation part 20. The user touches amanipulation part 20 displaying a desired signal of the signal set toinput the desired signal to the mobile terminal through the input unit40. For example, as seen in FIG. 1, when the numbers displayed by thesignal display unit 30 are displayed through the manipulation part 20,the manipulation part 20 is operated to display the numbers inputtedthrough the input unit 40 on the display 12.

The user may change a signal set displayed by the signal display unit 30by touching one of the keys 21 or manipulating a hot key such as theside key 18 (in FIG. 1). For example, when the side key 18 is pressed ina mode where numbers are displayed, as seen in FIG. 1, a combination ofalphabets or Hangul (Korean) consonants and vowels may be displayedthrough the manipulation part 20. Here, the side key 18 or the like maybe a signal set input part in the sense that the user can input adesired mode therethrough, and the circuitry supporting substrate 55 canbe a signal set determining unit in the sense that the signal setdetermining unit determines the selected mode for the signal displayunit 30 to display and displays the selected mode through themanipulation part according to a command received through the signal setinput unit.

Because a lower portion of the manipulation part 20 is not stepped but rsmooth, light generated from the signal display unit 30 is not distortedin the process of passing through the manipulation part 20. As a result,the user can clearly recognize the signal set displayed through themanipulation part 20.

In the exemplary modification seen in FIG. 3, the manipulation part 20or the signal display unit 30 is substantially the same as those in theformer exemplary embodiment of the present invention, except that inputunit 40 may be replace with input unit 50, which includes one or moredome switches 51.

The dome switches 51 may be made of a material with elastic restorationforce, such as, but not limited thereto, metal, and are disposed on thecircuitry supporting substrate 55 such that they correspond to therespective manipulation keys 21. The signal display unit 30 is a displaythat can be bent like an e-paper or a flexible LCD, so that when one ofthe manipulation keys 21 is pressed, a corresponding pressing force canbe transferred to a corresponding one of the dome switches 51. Uponreceiving the pressing force, the corresponding dome switch 51 iselastically deformed to come in contact with the circuitry supportingsubstrate 55 to allow separated contacts (not shown) to be electricallyconnected to allow a signal to be inputted to the circuitry supportingsubstrate 55.

Pressing protrusions 53 protruded from a support film or pad 52 may beformed to correspond to the dome switches 51. The support pad 52 isdisposed at a lower portion of the signal display unit 30, and when themanipulation keys 21 are pressed, the pressing protrusions 53 press thedome switches 51.

According to this configuration, when the manipulation part 20 ismanipulated, a click sensation can be obtained by the restoration forceof the dome switches 51. In addition, the click sensation can beimproved by the pressing protrusions 53.

As seen in FIG. 4, a second exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention additionally includes a light source 61, a light guiding part62, and diffusion patterns 63 as compared to the first exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

In this exemplary embodiment, the light source 61 generates light andmay be, for example, an LED. While the light source 61 is shown on thecircuitry supporting substrate 55, the light source 61 may be providedat other locations in the housing of the mobile terminal.

The light generated from the light source 61 is guided toward themanipulation part 20 through the light guiding part 62. The lightguiding part 62 may be disposed at an upper portion of the signaldisplay unit 30. The light guiding part 62 may be, for example a lightguiding member or a light guiding film having the diffusion patterns 63formed therein. The diffusion patterns 63 may be formed at positionscorresponding to the manipulation keys 21.

In this configuration, when the signal display unit 30 is notilluminated by itself or when the signal display unit 30 is illuminatedby itself but its light strength is weak, light from the light source 61can supplement the light from the signal display unit 30. In otherwords, the light generated from the light source 61 is guided to themanipulation part 20 after passing through the light guiding part 62and, as a result of being diffused by the diffusion patterns 63, thesignal set displayed by the signal display unit 30 can be more clearlyrecognized through the manipulation part 20.

As seen in FIG. 5, the light source 61, light guiding part 62, anddiffusion patterns 63 may be utilized with the dome switches shown inFIG. 3. With this modification, the user obtains the enhanced visibilityof the signal set displayed by the signal display unit 30 by lightgenerated from the light source 61 and also obtains the click sensationduring pressing of the manipulation part 20.

In accordance with a third exemplary, as seen in FIG. 6, a manipulationpart 70 includes a support pad 72 that connects a plurality of keys 71exposed through the key holes 16 a. The manipulation part 70 may be madeof a ductile material, such as, but not limited thereto, rubber orsilicon. Exposed portions of the keys 71 may be formed to be concavewith a certain curvature.

In addition, the light guiding part 62 (in FIG. 5) for guiding the lightgenerated from the light source 61 to the manipulation part 70 may beeliminated and diffusion patterns 63 can be directly formed at a lowerside of the support pad 72.

In this arrangement, because the support pad 72 is ductile, when one ofthe keys 71 is pressed, only a corresponding dome switch is pressed, soa phenomenon that other dome switches are unintentionally pressed toerroneously input a signal can be minimized or prevented.

If the manipulation part 70 is made of rubber, it can be formed to bethinner so that the click sensation generated when the manipulation part70 is pressed can be more improved as compared to a manipulation part 70made of other materials. As a result the overall thickness of the mobileterminal can be reduced. In addition, because the light guiding part isnot necessary, the overall thickness of the mobile terminal can becomeeven further reduced.

In this exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the input unit 40may be a touch screen (refer to FIG. 4) similar to that described. Inthis configuration, because the manipulation part 70 is made of rubber,even if the touch screen 40 is implemented as a pressure-sensitive type,the touch screen can be used when the manipulation part 70 ismanipulated by using a stylus pen.

According to a fourth exemplary embodiment, as seen in FIG. 7, a housing110 forms a body of the mobile terminal. The housing may include a firstcover or an upper cover 111 and a second cover or a lower cover 116. Amanipulation part 120 may be located on the upper portion of a frontsurface of the upper cover 111. A manipulation key 112, a microphone115, a receiver 113, and a camera 114 may be disposed to be adjacent endportions of the manipulation part 120. A battery 117 and a side key 118may be mounted at the lower cover 116. In addition a second camera (notshown) having a different image capture direction from that of thecamera 114 may be located in the lower cover 116. The construction ofthe manipulation part 120 will be described with reference to FIG. 8.

As seen in FIG. 8, the manipulation part 120 includes a manipulationregion 121 and a flange part 122 that extends outward from themanipulation region 121. The flange part 122 is held by a manipulationhole 111 a in the front cover 111, which is configured to occupy asubstantial area of the upper cover 111, and the manipulation regionextends through the manipulation hole 111 a. Similarly to theabove-described exemplary embodiments of the present invention, themanipulation part 120 may be made of ductile rubber so that it can bethin and have a rounded form. Diffusion patterns 163 for guiding lightgenerated from the light source 161 may be formed at a lower portion ofthe manipulation part 120 similar to the arrangement of diffusionpatterns 63 as seen in FIG. 6.

In this exemplary embodiment, because of the presence of the diffusionpatterns 163, the light generated from the light source 161 can beevenly guided to each portion of the manipulation part 120. Accordingly,the user may touch a portion of the manipulation part 120 where adesired signal is displayed by the signal display unit 130 to input thedesired signal to the input unit 140, which may take the form of a touchscreen as described above.

In addition, the signal display unit 130 may display not only the signalset but also other images or video, so there is no need to provide anadditional display (like the display 12 in FIG. 1) in the mobileterminal. For example, as seen in FIG. 7, the mobile terminal maydisplay an image provided through the manipulation part 120 when thesignal display unit 130 displays the image or the video.

Moreover, because the manipulation part 120 may occupy the portionforming a portion of the external appearance of the terminal, inparticular, most of the portion of the upper cover 111, the mobileterminal may advantageously have a neat and elegant external appearance.

In one modification of the mobile terminal according to the fourthexemplary embodiment of the present invention, as seen in FIG. 9, aninput unit 150 including one or more dome switches 151 is provided inplace of the input unit 140. The input unit 150 includes a support pad152 and pressing protrusions 153 similar to the input 50 describedabove.

As seen in FIG. 10, another modification of the fourth exemplaryembodiment includes both the input unit 140 (the first input unit),which may be a touch screen, that is disposed at a lower side of themanipulation part 120, and the input unit 150 (the second input unit),which includes one or more dome switches 151, is disposed at a lowerside of the signal display unit 130 supporting the first input unit 140.When the second input unit 150 is operated according to manipulation ofthe manipulation region 121, the user may have an improved clicksensation.

When the user presses or touches the manipulation region 121 with a weakforce, only the first input unit 140 may react thereto. When the forcereaches beyond a certain level, the second input unit 150 may also beoperated, for which an additional adjustment may be necessary.

For the adjustment, the first input unit 140 may be locked depending ona particular usage mode. For example, when the signal display unit 130displays a standardized signal or command such as an alphabet signalset, which may be in the form of a virtual keyboard, to input an Englishword (See FIG. 11), a control unit such as the circuitry supportingsubstrate 155 may lock the first input unit 140.

When the user selects an input mode to make a figure (drawing) on themanipulation region 121 by using the stylus pen (See FIG. 12), thesecond input unit 150 may be locked and only the first input unit 140may be operated.

In this arrangement, the user may activate the first input unit 140 toinput various types of signals or information to the mobile terminal. Inaddition, when the second input unit 150 is activated, the standardizedsignal can be more quickly inputted. Consequently, the first and secondinput units 140 and 150 have a mutually complementary relationshipaccording to the type of signals desired to be inputted by the user.

As the present invention may be embodied in several forms withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, itshould also be understood that the above-described embodiments are notlimited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unlessotherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within itsspirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore allchanges and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of theclaims, or equivalents of such metes and bounds are therefore intendedto be embraced by the appended claims.

1. A mobile terminal comprising: a housing; a signal display unitdisposed within the housing; a manipulation unit disposed within thehousing to cover the signal display unit, the manipulation unit allowinglight to be transmitted therethrough; and an input unit disposed withinthe housing, wherein the input unit comprises: a first input unitdisposed above the signal display unit and configured to sense a touchwhen the manipulation unit is touched; a support unit disposed at a rearsurface of the signal display unit so as to support the signal displayunit; a circuitry supporting substrate disposed below the support unit;and a second input unit disposed below the support unit, the secondinput unit being connected to the circuitry supporting substrate,wherein the first input unit senses a touched position when themanipulation unit is touched, and wherein when a force applied to themanipulation unit exceeds a certain level after the manipulation unit istouched, the second input unit operates and the signal display unitoutputs information associated with the touched position.
 2. The mobileterminal of claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a front cover and arear cover, and the manipulation unit is located in the front cover. 3.The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein a battery and a side key aremounted at the rear cover.
 4. The mobile terminal of claim 2, whereininternal and external surfaces of the manipulation unit are formed to besmooth without a step.
 5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein thesignal display unit is configured to display a virtual keyboard and adisplay region, and information inputted by the virtual keyboard isdisplayed on the display region when the force applied to themanipulation unit exceeds the certain level.
 6. The mobile terminal ofclaim 5, wherein the information is not displayed unless the secondinput unit is depressed by the signal display unit even though thevirtual keyboard is touched, in a state that the virtual keyboard andthe display region have been displayed.
 7. The mobile terminal of claim1, wherein a plurality of touch-sensitive keys are disposed on a frontside of the housing and light sources are disposed below the pluralityof touch-sensitive keys.
 8. The mobile terminal of claim 7, whereinlight generated from each of the light sources is guided toward thetouch-sensitive keys through a light guiding part.
 9. The mobileterminal of claim 1, wherein the signal display unit includes at leastan LCD or an OLED.
 10. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein thesignal display unit is configured to selectively display one of at leasttwo inputtable signal sets or other visual information different fromthe inputtable signal sets.
 11. The mobile terminal of claim 1, whereina camera is located on a front side of the housing, the camera beingdisposed to be adjacent to an end portion of the manipulation unit. 12.The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein a second camera is located at arear side of the housing.
 13. The mobile terminal of claim 1, furthercomprising at least one pressing protrusion protruding from the supportunit and formed to correspond to the second input unit.
 14. A mobileterminal comprising: a housing; a signal display unit disposed withinthe housing; a manipulation unit disposed within the housing, themanipulation unit being configured to cover the signal display unit andallowing light to be transmitted therethrough; and an input unitdisposed within the housing, wherein the input unit comprises: a firstinput unit disposed above the signal display unit and configured tosense a touch when the manipulation unit is touched; a support unitdisposed at a rear surface of the signal display unit so as to supportthe signal display unit; a circuitry supporting substrate disposed belowthe support unit; and a second input unit disposed below the supportunit, the second input unit being connected to the circuitry supportingsubstrate and configured to operate when the second input unit ispressed by the support unit via the manipulation unit, wherein the firstinput unit senses a touched position when the manipulation unit istouched, and the signal display unit outputs information associated withthe touched position when the second input unit is pressed by the signaldisplay unit.
 15. The mobile terminal of claim 14, wherein the housingcomprises a front cover and a rear cover, and wherein the manipulationunit is located in the front cover and at least a battery or a side keyis mounted at the rear cover.
 16. The mobile terminal of claim 14,wherein the signal display unit is configured to display a virtualkeyboard and a display region, and information inputted by the virtualkeyboard is displayed on the display region when the second input unitis pressed by the signal display unit.
 17. The mobile terminal of claim14, wherein a plurality of touch-sensitive keys are disclosed on a frontside of the housing and light sources are disposed below the pluralityof touch-sensitive keys.
 18. A mobile terminal comprising: a housing; asignal display unit disposed within the housing; a manipulation unitdisposed within the housing to cover the signal display unit, themanipulation unit being configured to allow light to be transmittedtherethrough; and an input unit disposed within the housing, wherein theinput unit comprises: a first input unit disposed above the signaldisplay unit and configured to sense a touch when the manipulation unitis touched; a circuitry supporting substrate disposed below the signaldisplay unit; and a second input unit disposed below the support unit,the second input unit being connected to the circuitry supportingsubstrate and configured to operate when a force applied to themanipulation unit reaches beyond a certain level after the manipulationunit is touched, wherein the signal display unit is configured todisplay a virtual keyboard and a display region, wherein informationinputted by the virtual keyboard is displayed on the display region whenthe force applied to the manipulation unit exceeds the certain level, ina state that the virtual keyboard and the display region have beendisplayed, and wherein the information is not displayed unless the forceapplied to the manipulation unit exceeds the certain level even thoughthe virtual keyboard is touched in the state.
 19. The mobile terminal ofclaim 18, wherein the information is displayed on the display regionwhen the second input unit is pressed by the force.
 20. The mobileterminal of claim 1, wherein a plurality of touch-sensitive keys aredisclosed near the virtual keyboard.